


The Kids are all Messed Up

by panicparade



Series: The Pros and Cons of Dating a Telepath [1]
Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Young Veins
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst and Humor, Community: trope_bingo, Empath, M/M, Telepathy, Trope : Rivals to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-30
Updated: 2013-04-30
Packaged: 2017-12-09 22:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/778516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panicparade/pseuds/panicparade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He clenched his fists at his side and tried to think of anything other than how badly he wanted to strangle Mikey Way. It sucked that his worst enemy in the entire world was also one of the strongest telepaths in the country and while Ryan wasn’t scared of him (not even a little bit.), his brother’s best friend was Bob Bryar and Ryan felt no shame in admitting that Bob Bryar scared the living shit out of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Kids are all Messed Up

**Author's Note:**

> It can be considered a prequel to [The Pros and Cons of Dating a Telepath](http://archiveofourown.org/works/773682) but each can be read as standalones.  
> Written for the Rivals to Lovers square on my [Trope_Bingo Card](http://panicparade.dreamwidth.org/713.html)  
> Title is from a song by _Cobra Starship_.  
>  ~~For now, this is unbeta-ed, so I know that some things might suck in certain places and I always fuck up the tenses because I write randomly in bits and pieces without following the beginning to end route.~~  
>  Now with EDITS!  
> BETA-ED! :) Once again,[clockworkmayhem](www.clockworkmayhem.livejournal.com) is awesome for helping me fix things up. :) If you like Hobbit!RPF go check out her fic - [Still Here (I'm not a War Machine)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/798673/chapters/1504308)  
> ALSO, with this I've completed a + can now call _Bingo_.  
>  Fuck, yeah!

Ryan woke up to the solid, heavy weight of _rageangerhot_ around him, rolled over and pulled the covers back up over his head. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d woken up feeling calm or happy or even just _stable_ in his house in the morning; oh wait, that was because it had _never happened_!

Ryan listened to the banging noises that came from the living room and hoped that he would have the house to himself for a few minutes before he left for school. These days it was getting harder and harder for him to try and shield himself from all the emotion and school was unbearable as it was; adding in the extra weight of trying to deal with the emotions of the entire student body pressing down on him was just _exhausting._ He set the alarm for an hour later and tried to go back to sleep, increasing the volume on his iPod just enough to block out the loud noises, but not enough that he wouldn’t get a warning if his dad decided to pay him a visit before he left for work. Sadly, though emotions didn’t travel like sound waves in the way that he could _hear_ them; it was like a physical weight crashing down on him with an intensity that was overwhelming most of the time.

He couldn’t fall asleep again, so Ryan spent the hour staring at his ceiling and trying to remember if he’d done his homework last night; he was only vaguely aware of taking his books out of his bag but he couldn’t remember if he’d opened them or not. Finally, when he couldn’t put it off any longer he rolled out of bed, landing on his feet lightly, and started getting ready to face another day at school.

***

“Take care to check who your partner is for the assignment. It’s going to count towards your final score,” Mr. Trohman said as Ryan started putting things back in his bag. He silently banged his head against the table; he hated partnered assignments, and he’d probably get stuck with some dweeb who wouldn’t do any of the work, making Ryan work double hard so that his grades didn’t suffer. Not for the first time he wished that he and Spencer had shared at least one class. Ryan supposed he should be grateful that they at least had lunch together.

He waited until everyone else had checked who their partner was; he didn’t want to get pushed around. By the time Ryan made his way to the notice board, there was only one or two people standing there and he could easily stand behind them and look over their heads. It took him some time to find his name and when he did, he clenched his fists tight.

Mikey _fuckin’_ Way.

If Ryan was the kind of guy who could snarl and sound threatening while doing it, he would be snarling right about now. But he’d tried it on Spencer once and instead of Spencer cowering in fear as he’d hoped the result would be, Ryan had had to thump Spencer on the back ’cause he choked on his drink (“Out of fear.” “Yes, your ability to look like you have something stuck up your ass makes me quiver in my shoes. What? Are you trying to _snarl_ at me again, Ryan?” “Oh for Pete’s sake, Spence! You aren’t even drinking anything right now!”). 

So yeah. Ryan didn’t snarl so much anymore, so he settled for what he hoped was a bored, yet disgusted expression (“You have only _one_ expression. _”_ “Shut up, Spencer!”) and turned away from the notice board, his head held high. And ran straight into the Way brother who was a constant thorn in his side.

Ryan tossed his hair and sniffed derisively. “Way.”   

He saw Mikey Way’s lip quirk slightly and to most people that little action wouldn’t mean a thing, but sometimes being an empath sucked, because Ryan could tell that Mikey fuckin’ Way was amused at something - _at him!_

“Ross,” Mikey nodded slightly, and his face was back to its usual calm facade, but Ryan could feel the amusement rolling off him in waves. Fuckin’ Mikey Way.

He clenched his fists at his side again and tried to think of anything but how badly he wanted to strangle Mikey Way. It sucked that his worst enemy in the entire world was also one of the strongest telepaths in the country and while Ryan wasn’t scared of him (not even a little bit), his older brother’s best friend was Bob Bryar, and Ryan felt no shame in admitting that Bob Bryar scared the living shit out of him. So Ryan tried to calm his mind and think of something that would reduce his chances of getting beaten up and ended up with the same image he always thought of when confronted with Mikey Way: Spencer dancing to N’SYNC when he was 10. It was like his default setting to calm his brain down (he was never more grateful that his best friend had no powers of mind reading or he would be a dead empath by now).

 Ryan moved back a little (of course Mikey Way had to be taller than him) and sniffed again. “As much as I’d rather sell my guitar than spend time with you, I’d like to maintain my average. So tell me when you’re free and we can work on the project.” He was being civil, Spencer would be proud of him, and he didn’t even snarl.  “Also, I have a few ideas and I like being fair so – ”

“Do you have a cold?”

“ – we can maybe discuss that - what? No, I don’t. Why?” Ryan took another step back; how was there still the same distance between the two of them?

“Oh, nothing. You keep sniffing, I thought maybe you’re falling ill. Wouldn’t want little Ross to fall ill now, would we?” And even though all of this was said with the same straight face, Mikey Way’s amusement was overpowering the general barrage of emotions that engulfed Ryan during school hours, and for a moment he was actually relieved, enjoying the feeling, and feeling happy enough (he _was_ an empath after all) to almost smile until he remembered who he was talking to and scowled instead.

“What? I’m not sniffing.” Thank God, Spencer wasn’t here. “Anyway, when are you free?” Ryan shuffled back again and felt the wall behind him. _Seriously!_ How was this guy moving without Ryan noticing?

Mikey Way took some time to reply, and Ryan was sure he did that on purpose. Just as he opened his mouth to ask him what the fuck was taking him so long, Mikey finally said, “How about today? In the evening? I live near the park.” And for a moment Ryan was confused; what did the park have to do with anything? That was when he remembered the assignment was to tell a story through pictures. Ryan always did think Mr. Trohman was a weird English teacher - he talked a lot about getting back in touch with nature and stuff, and Spencer said that it had to do with his power. Ryan didn’t want to admit it, but starting with the park was a ~~good~~ okay idea. He looked up to glare at Mikey Way some more which was when he noticed that under the layers of amusement, he could feel a low hum of nervousness.  Ryan ignored it. He was in a school filled with people; random strains of emotions weren’t uncommon and it wasn’t like Mikey Way had reason to be nervous about anything.

“I can’t do today, I have to go over to Spencer’s house after school. How about tomorrow?” Ryan asked, noting that he really couldn’t move back any further and fixing his gaze onto Mikey Way’s shoes to catch him in the act.

The younger Way frowned and moved back a little. “Spencer Smith? You guys hang out a lot?” Ryan had no idea what that even had to with the project and he was getting really bored of this conversation. He could have been out enjoying his break, but here he was instead, stuck with the bane of his existence, conversing as if there was nothing wrong.

“Yeah, I do,” Ryan said defensively. “He’s my best friend, though I don’t see what that has to do with anything, Way. Tomorrow? Is that okay? Only I have better things to do than stand and talk to you all day.” He tossed his head back, the constant falling of his bangs into his eyes annoying him, taking care not to sniff any more.

There was a look of confusion on Mikey Way’s face as he stared at Ryan, who tried hard not to fidget or touch his hair and focused instead on Spencer’s mad dancing skills in his head. Finally, when once again Ryan was getting ready to interrupt his project partner, he said, “Yeah, tomorrow’s fine. You can just come back with me after school, and I’ll drop you home once we’re done.” And with that he was gone. _Huh._

Ryan wanted to be angry - how dare he just tell Ryan what to do and then walk off? - but his phone was buzzing in his pocket and he could feel Bob Bryar staring at him from the water fountain down the hall, so he just took out his phone and walked really fast towards the library.

He told Spencer about his talk with Mikey Way when they’re sitting in Spencer’s room playing Mario Kart. Spencer complimented him on how well he handled the situation (okay, so Ryan may have glossed it over a bit. The part about the sniffles wasn’t important anyway) and then goes onto rant about how Jon was busy with the newspaper all day long so they hardly got to spend any time together and his Maths teacher gave him a C on the last test, but by then Ryan tuned him out. Agitation is rolling off of Spencer in waves, his miserable gaming skills not helping in the least and Ryan tried to calm himself and Spencer down. He was still working on his projection skills, but Mr. Hurley, their power skills training teacher, said that it was normal for non-physical powers and Ryan just needed to focus more. As he was trying to calm himself (and Spencer) down his mind went back to how happy Mikey Way had been, and for a moment he missed that feeling. It would be so awesome to have that envelope him all day long and he got lost in dreams of living in a big fuzzy blanket of _happy_ , only snapping out of it when he realised that Spencer had set fire to his pillow. Again. His mom was gonna kill him _and_ make him sleep without a pillow now, even though it wasn’t his fault - elemental powers are harder to get the hang of and Spencer had always had control issues. Which Spencer did not appreciate being reminded of, if the shoe that was hurled towards Ryan’s head was any indication.

***

The next day after school Ryan walked back towards his locker as slowly as he could, taking his time to put his books back and pulling out the camera he’d borrowed from Jon, who had made Ryan sign a contract saying that he would take care of it as if it was his first born and if anything was to happen to it Jon could sell Ryan’s guitar to buy a new one. As if. Ryan would just use his best friend points with Spencer to get him to reason with his boyfriend and besides, Ryan had signed his name as George Ross on the contract, so Jon was most welcome to ask his dad for a new camera. _Ha!_

 Once he was satisfied that all the books in his locker were aligned alphabetically, he gave a satisfied nod and started moving towards the doors. The hallway was almost empty by now and so was the parking lot, with Mikey Way’s blue beat-up old car being the only one there. The boy himself was sitting on the hood of the car with his headphones on looking out towards the football field. Ryan hitched his bag up higher and tried not to drag his feet too much as he walked towards the car. When Mikey Way showed no sign of noticing him, fuckin’ telepath, he went and stood right in front of him, blocking his view.

“Hey! You’re here! I thought you got stuck in a toilet or something.” Mikey Way smiled and Ryan was once again surrounded by the feeling of _happycontentgood_ , making him smile back without even realising it.

“And you decided to leave me stuck in the toilets? My hero, Mikey Way,” Ryan said, grinning and moving back as Mikey Way slid off the hood and moved towards the driver’s side.

“Yeah well, that’s how you learn life skills. It would have been an invaluable lesson - _how to get out of confined spaces_ ,” he joked, leaning across the seats to open Ryan’s door, who slid in without tripping and mentally high fived himself. This was when he realised that he was sitting in Mikey Way’s car, joking and laughing with him. Mikey Way, his sworn enemy. He wiped the smile off his face and concentrated on arranging his bag in his lap. And even if he could, he didn’t want to get out of the bubble of happy that surrounded him at the moment; it was peaceful there.

Ryan said nothing as Mikey Way started the car and pulled out of the school, just staring out the window and trying to keep his thoughts from straying towards just how happy everything was right now.

“Why do you keep calling me that?” Mikey Way asked after some time, as Ryan bent to go through his CD cases; awkward silences made his skin itch.

“Call you what?” Ryan asked, noting how he didn’t listen to nor had heard of half the bands whose CD’s were in a pile on the floor.

“‘Mikey Way,’” he said, nodding with his head when Ryan gestured with the _Meds_ CD as if to play it. Ryan put the CD in and paused before pressing play, looking at Mikey Way as if he was crazy (which he was. Ryan was sure of it.).

“Uh, isn’t that your name? And I don’t think I’ve ever called you that, Way.” Ryan made sure to leave out the ‘Mikey’, pressing play and leaning back in the seat as the first song started.

“Yeah, but, it’s just Mikey, man. My mom calls me Mikey Way when she’s pissed at me. And Frank does, but he doesn’t count ‘cause he makes into one word.” Ryan tried to resist the urge to bang his head against the window. Was Mikey trying to act like a friend here? Because that was just wrong. They _weren’t_ friends, not at all. “And umm, in your head. _I don’t listen_! I swear, it’s just that I can hear really strong thoughts, like echoes?” Mikey Way faced him a little, trying to get his point across. “And I can like, I mean… I get echoes back. You call me Mikey Way in your head,” he finished, running a hand through his hair and messing it up. Ryan could feel it now, the faint strain of nervousness that was hiding under all the _happyandamused_ that was surrounding him.  

“Yeah, well. That’s your name.” Ryan shrugged and tried to ignore the ‘echo’ part; even though he knew Mikey Way (he said it really silently) was a telepath, to actually hear about it was weird. And scary.

Beside him, Mikey Way sighed and said, “Okay, do you call all your friends by their complete names?”

Ryan tapped his feet against the car floor as _Infra Red_ started and replied while still looking out the window. “No. Why would I?”

He could feel Mikey Way relax a little as he turned and smiled at Ryan. “Exactly! It’s just Mikey, Ryan.” And Ryan was already bored enough with the conversation that he nodded his head and said, “Okay,” before resuming his staring out the window. If the guy wanted Ryan to call him Mikey, he could do that, give his mortal enemy one small concession.

“So Mikey, are we going to park directly? ‘Cause I have my friend’s camera with me and I was thinking we could take some photos before it gets dark. If we’re lucky we can finish it all today,” Ryan said suddenly, turning to look at the boy who was driving the car. He felt a distinct flair of _happyexcited_ when he called him Mikey, which tapered off to disappointment as Ryan finished speaking. Clearly, Mikey ~~Way~~ was bipolar.

“I was thinking we could maybe grab something to eat? Take it with us to the park? ‘Cause I don’t know about you man, but I’m hungry,” Mikey admitted, turning up the volume as _Post Blue_ started.

“Sure, that sounds cool,” Ryan nodded along to the song.

He gave no reaction when he heard Mikey mutter “I’m not bipolar,” choosing to concentrate on Spencer and N’SYNC.

*****

They grabbed a few sandwiches from a deli situated across the road from the park while exchanging ideas and Ryan admited to himself, grudgingly, that if he forgot who he was there with, he’d actually having a decent time. As they got to the park and sat down on a bench to eat their food, Mikey took out his camera and started taking random pictures of the park. He said it’d help them get an idea of where the lightning was best and that maybe they’d strike upon a good picture by accident. Ryan just shrugged and continued eating his sandwich. He knew Mikey was part of the photography club, and Jon talked about his photos a lot. There was a kid with a puppy playing towards Ryan’s left and he got distracted watching them play, smiling like an idiot and forgetting about the food in his hand. It was only when they moved off towards another portion of the park that Ryan felt a wave of adoration around him and he turned around to see who was feeling so loving towards someone else.

He twisted in his seat and found Mikey staring at him, the camera trained on Ryan and taking pictures. He stopped when Ryan turned around and lowered the camera to smile sheepishly, but Ryan could feel the underlying layer of - he can’t think of another word - _fondness_ radiating towards him. He scowled, confused, and stood up to throw their empty wrappers in the bins so that they could get started on their work. The faster they did that, the faster they could leave and Ryan would be free of Mikey _fuckin’_ Way again.

Except, maybe he said the last part too loud mentally because Mikey shifted suddenly to face Ryan and his feeling of _hurtsadbreak_ hit Ryan so hard he that staggered a little. 

“What?!” Ryan snapped at Mikey, and maybe he was being a little too harsh but right now he hardly cared. He’d never felt so swamped with emotions before and it was all overwhelming for him. His tone jerked Mikey out of whatever he was feeling and he suddenly moved to stand taller, starting towards Ryan, his face set in determination.

“What is your problem?” Mikey asked, irritation seeping through his question, but Ryan could still make out the hurt hidden beneath it.

“My problem, Mikey Way? What the fuck is wrong with you?! Acting like we’re friends and asking me to call you Mikey,” Ryan snarled (he did it! And if he was in a better mood, he’d call Spencer and gloat.). He moved to pick up his camera, adding “Let’s just get this over with as fast as we can so that I can leave.” But Mikey stood in front of him, trapping him with the table on the other end.

“Why do you hate me so much?” he asked quietly, and Ryan was so immersed in his own anger that he didn’t make out the sincerity behind the words.

“Are you fuckin’ kidding me Way?” Ryan tried to escape to his left but Mikey was faster and he advanced forward even more, leaning towards Ryan until he had placed both hands on either side of him, making sure the other boy couldn’t go anywhere.

“No, I’m not. I really don’t know what I’ve done that’s made you’re so angry with me all the time!” Mikey’s face was right in front of his now; Ryan could feel Mikey’s breath on his cheek as he spoke and Ryan wouldn’t admit it, but he was starting to get a little scared, which of course made him even angrier.

“You’re a telepath Way, surely you could have figured it out by now if you didn’t already know. Which I know you do!” Ryan gave up on trying to escape from Mikey’s hold and just sat down on the table instead. He felt a mild headache starting; his shielding also needed a lot of work. _Pfft!_ And Brendon thought empaths had it easy. Mikey relaxed a little once Ryan sat down; maybe he’d thought Ryan would fight him and he didn’t think he had a chance. As if; like Ryan wanted Bob Bryar climbing in through his window at night to strangle him in his sleep.

“I told you. I don’t like to read other people’s minds without their permission, unless it’s people I’m close to. Like my brother or really good friends. That was the first stage of my training - controlling my power.” Mikey sat down on the bench, still right in front of Ryan, like he wasn’t sure if he could trust that he wouldn’t try to make a run for it. Ryan could feel Mikey’s agitation and the slight layer of desperation that was present underneath it all. He would wonder about it, if he wasn’t so confused by all of this. Why the hell was Mikey Way so concerned with what he thought? They were never friends - okay, they had been, but that was a long time ago, and Ryan barely thought about it. Just like, once or twice a week, not more than that. Definitely not every day, or every time he saw Mikey laughing with his friends.

“Why do you care?” Ryan blurted out, and once again his brain to mouth filter was not working as he directly spoke what he thought. He was tired, it was hot, they still had to start work on their assignment and his sworn enemy had decided that he wanted to have a heart to heart conversation about _their feelings_ with him. Ryan would have laughed if he wasn’t sure that Mikey would punch him for it.

Mikey didn’t falter, nor did he show any other outward sign of losing composure, but Ryan wasn’t an empath for nothing and he could feel some of the agitation spike, while his despair lessened, as if Ryan finally contributing meant something.

It most certainly did not.

“I care because I would like to know what I did that made someone hate me so much,” Mikey said, his jaw locked, and for a second Ryan thought his power could be shooting lasers out his eyes, because he seemed to be doing just that. Ryan was actually enjoying himself; the ability to rile Mikey Way, the ever aloof telepath, did hold a certain appeal.

“You already know why,” Ryan replied, trying to keep himself from smirking. He flinched and pulled back a little when Mikey suddenly stood up and brought his palms down flat on the table, pining Ryan again and this time he could feel his anger in waves rolling and crashing over him. Impulse won over and he tried to make himself as small as possible. Somehow, anger had always affected him the most, making him hide each time he felt someone around him start to radiate the familiar strong pulses associated with the emotion.

“I. Don’t. Know,” Mikey said, his voice calm, which would give anyone else the impression that he was as cool and composed as he always appeared to be. But Ryan could tell the difference - he could tell how calm and composed Mikey _wasn’t -_ and he did the only thing he could think of doing and brought forward the memory of the day that had changed them to what they were today.

He dropped his eyes to his hands on his lap and said to Mikey, “Watch.” He kept his eyes lowered as the memory played back in his head so he missed seeing Mikey’s eyes widen as he was given permission to access another’s thoughts. The other boy didn’t change his stance but instead tipped his head forward a little and closed his eyes to peek into Ryan Ross’s thoughts.

_Ryan looked at himself in the mirror and tried to fix his hair. It was starting to grow longer and he was having a harder time trying to control it these days, and Spencer’s mom was always after him to get it cut. Maybe he should do that first and then go forward with what he had planned for today, but then the date would change and he’d have to wait another year. Ryan wasn’t sure he would be able to build up his courage again the next year._

Mikey wanted to relish the feeling of getting the privilege of willingly being allowed to read Ryan’s thoughts, but he was consumed in the memory that had been reconstructed around him. It was as if he was inside Ryan - which he was, in a way - living out the day again, and getting to feel all the emotions – nervousness, hope, excitement - that were filling up tiny Ryan’s head (Mikey couldn’t really pinpoint what age Ryan was in this memory; even now at 16 years of age, Ryan still looked 13).

_Ryan tried flattening his hair once more as he heard a car horn outside, grabbing his bag and something off his desk and running down the stairs and out the door._

Mikey caught the distinct sense of _rush_ , like Ryan wanted to leave before something happened; he could feel Ryan’s hope that he could leave without anything bad happening that morning as he ran past the living room, the stench of alcohol overpowering in the air.

_Ryan closed the front door behind him and ran towards the car parked outside that contained Spencer smiling at him from the front seat.  He accepted Mrs. Smith’s kiss on his cheek and clicked his seat belt in place as she started the car towards their school. He felt like his whole body was vibrating, nervousness overtaking everything else, and he was glad the seat belt was there to keep him in place. Spencer looked towards the paper in his hand and tried to take it, but Ryan pulled back. Spencer already knew what it was; he’d been there when Ryan had made it and for once he hadn’t mocked Ryan. Instead, when he saw how jittery Ryan was in his seat, he placed a hand on his knee to comfort him, giving him a small smile which Ryan returned gratefully. When they reached the school, Ryan took his time undoing his seatbelt and getting out while Spencer waited patiently for him. When he could delay it no longer, Ryan got out of the car and walked towards class with his best friend, both of them waving to Spencer’s mom as she drove away. All around them the school was filled with noise and Ryan felt himself hunching his shoulders subconsciously against the barrage of human emotions that overtook him as they walked through the halls._

And Mikey could _feel_ it, could feel all the different emotions that surrounded the tiny Ryan in his memory, and for the first time he realised that even though it wasn’t considered a combat power, being an empath was a constant battle against letting yourself being swept away by the feelings around you, and how difficult it could be try and stay within yourself. He could make out that Ryan wasn’t strong enough to do anything but accept all that his powers had brought, and he fought within his mind to keep a hold of his nervousness and excitement; keep a hold onto himself. From what he could tell, if his assumption about Ryan being around 13 was right, it hadn’t been long since Ryan’s powers must have peaked, and Mikey was around the same age when his own had made themselves known.

_Spencer kept a tight hold on Ryan’s hand as they walked through the hallway. Whenever they would pass a large group of people Spencer would steer Ryan as far away from them as he could and Ryan didn’t have the heart to tell him that it didn’t work that way. Emotions weren’t affected by range. By the time they walked in through the classroom door Ryan was almost shaking with nervousness and he wanted to tell Spencer that he couldn’t do it, but Spencer hadn’t been Ryan’s best friend for so many years without knowing how Ryan’s brain worked. He dropped Ryan’s hand and gave him a little push towards the kids who had seats near the windows of the classroom. Ryan looked back to give Spencer one pleading glance, but when he shook his head Ryan squared his shoulders and started walking towards the windows, his eyes on only one person._

Mikey felt weird seeing himself from someone else’s eyes, standing at his desk with Frank and laughing at something. He was too busy staring at himself and wondering where his Anthrax t-shirt had gone that it took some time to notice the decorations that were up on the walls, or the way most of the kids in his class were either laughing or hugging someone. But when Ryan turned again to give Spencer a last glance Mikey saw the pink and red decorations more clearly and he realised it was Valentine’s Day, which was when another realisation hit him and made the air get stuck in his throat. It was the Valentine’s Day of their eighth grade year (Mikey had gained more than a few inches over Frank before ninth grade had started), which also happened to be the day _Mikey’s powers had made their presence known for the first time_. Mikey could never forget that day, not only because of how important it was (he had always been a little scared that maybe he was a constant, who spent their entire lived never having any sort of power manifest itself, and would never have powers), but also because of how overwhelming everything had been. It had started as a small flow, with whispers and thoughts that weren’t his floating through his head and vanishing before he could fully get a grasp on them.

_Ryan moved slowly towards Mikey and Frank, holding tight to the paper in his hand. He’d been planning this for the past month and he’d made three different cards before he settled on the one he had in his hand. Spencer was the only other person who knew that he liked Mikey Way, and he was the one who had told Ryan to go for it. Ryan didn’t think he could have done it if Spencer hadn’t been there. Mikey noticed him when he was still a few steps away, smiling and raising his hand in a wave, and it was right there, as Mikey smiled and Ryan smiled back that he decided to go for it, and walking right up to Mikey._

Oh God. Mikey felt like he was going to be sick. He remembered that day but he didn’t remember it _that way._ He didn’t remember it with Ryan’s nervous energy flowing through him, nor did he remember it as feeling terrified at the thought of being rejected or made fun of. He remembered it as the day he was accepted into the telepaths, not as the day he felt so scared he thought he would puke.

_Ryan tapped Mikey on the shoulder so that he turned around, and Mikey’s smile made his heart beat faster and he knew he was maybe wrinkling the card in his hand with his tightened grip so he releases his hold on it a little. Mikey was still waiting for him to say something, so Ryan took a deep breath, then another, and said, “I made this for you. Happy Valentine’s Day,” while thrusting the card into Mikey’s hand and quickly walking back to Spencer so that he could breathe again._

Mikey wanted to get back into his own head now, what with Ryan’s fear slowly taking over, and it was only made worse by the fact that Mikey knew what was going to happen next, even though it wasn’t the way he remembered it. What Mikey remembered was that the moment Ryan tapped his shoulder and he turned around to see the boy smiling at him, his head had felt like something exploded, and noises, sounds, whispers, secrets, wishes from all over the school had come over him and he could only stand there and blink, all control wrenched from him as he tried not to drown under the pressure. He didn’t even remember Ryan handing him the card or walking away; he only remembered getting enough control back to think, _Find Gerard!_ And that’s what he’d done - ran till he’d found Gerard and then fainted the moment his brother had had his arms around him.

_Ryan didn’t look back. He kept walking towards Spencer, who was staring at something behind him. When Ryan stopped and thought about turning back he could see Spencer shaking his head, and he had to look now, so he did. And Mikey wasn’t there anymore but the card he spent four hours on is there, lying on the floor, crumpled up and stamped on. Ryan didn’t remember when Spencer got to him, or how Spencer got the two of them to the bathroom. Ryan only remembered leaning against his best friend and crying for hours. And for the first time he was impervious to what anyone else in the school was feeling._

Mikey knew what happened after that. He’d spent a week at home, working with Mr. Hurley on his shielding so that he could attend school again. When he returned he had started spending more time with Gerard because his head still hurt sometimes, and being a telekinetic Gerard could help Mikey work on his control. He’d tried talking to Ryan once or twice but each time Ryan had just ignored him, and then one day he’d heard what Ryan had been thinking - something along the lines of _stupid fuckin’ Mikey Way_ , and he hadn’t been able to stop himself from making fun of Ryan’s hair in front of the cafeteria. Things had just escalated after that, and they kept trying to get higher marks in class than the other (I assume that’s what you meant; it was a little confusing), show off and trying to put the other down. And Mikey got it now. It wasn’t his fault that his power had chosen that moment to appear, but to Ryan it would seem like he’d done it on purpose, and to Mikey it had seemed like Ryan was pissed off for no reason. Stupid, stupid, _stupid._ Mikey hoped that one day he could laugh about the ridiculousness of the situation.

Mikey stumbled back, confused when he saw that Ryan was standing now, trying to hide the fact that he was wiping his face, and Mikey wanted to say something, but he didn’t know _what_ he could possibly say that would make this situation even a little less awkward. _So, funny thing but I don’t even remember you giving me the card that day! Ha Ha!_ This wasn’t what he’d expected at all. He’d thought it would be something really lame that he could make fun of and that things would be okay then afterwards. Mikey knew anything he said now would make no difference because Ryan wasn’t interested in listening to him, so when Ryan pushed him to the side and walked off without saying a word to Mikey, he sat down on the bench and took his phone out of his bag. He needed help to fix this.

“Spencer? This is Mikey Way.”

***

Ryan was curled up on Spencer’s bed waiting for Spencer to get back from wherever he’d gone, but he was kind of glad he was alone; Spencer would have taken one look at his face and then bugged him until he’d found out what was wrong. And Ryan really didn’t feel like talking right now. He must have fallen asleep because he woke up some time later to the sound of the door closing. Ryan didn’t say anything, just lifted the blanket enough for Spencer to get in.

Spencer got in behind him and Ryan could feel the day catching up to him. To a certain degree he knew he was maybe being overdramatic, holding onto something that happened three years ago. Maybe if Mikey had stayed the same after it had happened he would have gotten over it, but with Mikey fuckin’ Way deciding to act like a douche it jus-

“You’re doing it again. I told you it’s just Mikey.”

“ _Ahhhh!!_ ” Ryan sat up, staring at the face smiling up at him and tried to jump off the bed but getting tangled in the sheets and falling to the floor, all the while mentally cursing as loud as he can. He sat on the floor and rubbed his head, glaring up at the boy who was now trying to control his laughter but was (obviously) failing miserably.

“Ouch. That must have hurt.” Mikey held out a hand for Ryan to take, which he ignored.

“The fuck are you doing here, Way?” Ryan asked as he started ~~crawling~~ moving towards the door.

“Hey, no, wait, Ryan. I have to talk to you,” Mikey said. But Ryan was fast and he was already at the door, finally able to be free of this idiot _if only the door would open!_ “It’s not going to open ‘til you listen to me.”

Ryan ignored Mikey again and pressed his ear to the door. Sure enough he could hear two voices laughing just outside. “Spencer James Smith the Fifth you better open this fucking door right the fuck now!” Ryan banged on the door. When had Spencer change sides and why did no one tell him?

“Talk to him, Ryan,” Spencer said through the door.

Ryan lowered himself to a sitting position on the floor, leaning forward against the door and keeping his back to Mikey. “Spencer, please.”

It was only because of the years of friendship they shared that Spencer could maybe hear how desperate Ryan was, so he said, “Ryan, just give him a chance. Do you think I would have let him even enter the house if I didn’t think you should listen to him?”

Logically Ryan knew that what Spencer was saying was the truth; Spencer would never have let Mikey come near him if he’d thought that Mikey didn’t have something important to say, but right now Ryan didn’t care. Spencer was a fucking _traitor_.

Ryan stood up and turned around, paying no attention to the boy sitting on Spencer’s bed. Mikey was calm, apparently thinking that now Ryan had no option but to listen to him; it was a pity he was about to be proven wrong. Mikey shifted on the bed, thinking Ryan was going to join him but Ryan made for the window. He’d just about managed to open it and put a leg outside before he felt arms on his waist and he was pulled back inside, kicking and wiggling and trying to get free.

“The fuck are you trying to do?” Mikey shouted, trying to get Ryan to stay still.

“Let go of me, Way!” Ryan could usually get away from Spencer if he moved around a lot but apparently Mikey was used to it because he had Ryan pinned to the floor within minutes. “Get the fuck off me.”

“No, I’ve tried asking you politely and that didn’t work. So now you’re going to shut up and listen to me. Got it?” Mikey said and Ryan could feel the annoyance and irritation building up so he quieted down. Years of exposure had made him respond automatically to certain feelings.

“Okay, okay. Good. Thank you.” Mikey breathed, smiling a little, the relief floating off of him. “So, umm, I have something for you and I’ll get it if you promise to not move from here?” he asked Ryan, who nodded and sat up with his back against the bed when Mikey got off of him.

Mikey grabbed his bag from Spencer’s desk and came to sit in front of Ryan. He rummaged around in his bag for something and Ryan wondered if he could maybe try making a run for it now, while the other boy was distracted, but he’d never really gone _out_ through the window; he’d always climbed in, but how hard could it be?

“Don’t even think about it, Ryan,” Mikey said warningly, not even looking up at him. Ryan hurtles a few chosen insults his way. Mentally, of course. Bob Bryar could be standing outside listening to every word for all he knew. “Ah, okay, here it is. Hhmm… no wait, this is the other one.” Mikey kept muttering to himself for some time like that so Ryan pulled a pillow off the bed and placed it behind him to get more comfortable.

He was busy examining his nails when Mikey coughed, Ryan glanced up to see Mikey looking nervous and staring at him. He could feel the nervousness radiating off Mikey in waves and it was annoying because he didn’t want to sit here and listen to what Mikey had to say; he wasn’t interested, but he stayed because Spencer had asked and also because he was kind of being crowded around the bed now so he couldn’t really get away.

Mikey didn’t say anything. He just handed Ryan something and turned to look at Spencer’s walls (because Blink 182 posters are so _interesting!_ ). Ryan looked down at the paper in his hands and then back at Mikey who was watching from out of the corner of his eyes.

“Is this some kind of a joke?” Ryan asked, trying to remain calm and composed. He was going to punch a lot of people in just a few minutes and Bob Bryar could go fuck himself.

Mikey jerked his head back to stare at Ryan with wide eyes. “No! No, of course not, it’s... Open it and see the date.”

And Ryan didn’t want to, he didn’t want to open the stupid red, heart shaped card that was clearly a joke and _Ha ha! Very funny, Mikey Way!_  Inside there was a drawing of two tall and lanky vampires holding hands and smiling at each other, complete with capes and upturned collars. It was actually pretty awesome and Ryan was already thinking of keeping it even if he would be kicking some Way ass later.

“Gerard made that. I had to give him two weeks’ worth of allowance but I think it was worth it.”

 Ryan didn’t even acknowledge his presence as he read what was written on the other side, noting the date. He stared back up at Mikey, who was being all _hopefulnervoushappy_ right now. “So? You could write whatever date you wanted, it’s nothing,” Ryan said, tucking the card under his pillow (vampires were awesome!).

“Do you think I’m lying?” Mikey asked, looking straight at Ryan. Now, the thing was that while Ryan was supposed to be _just an empath,_ lying, cheating and other similar activities all had roots in emotions, so to a certain extent Ryan could tell when people were being honest with him. He wanted to go against all his instincts here, but he couldn’t. Mikey wasn’t lying, Ryan could tell that easily, but it did nothing to loosen the knot in Ryan’s stomach.

“Why now?” Ryan replied instead, genuinely curious. Had Mikey really not known why Ryan hated him?

MIkey fidgeted a little, pushing his glasses up his nose and flattening his hair, but before he could say anything, Ryan asked another question. “Did you really not know?”

Mikey sat up a little straighter, giving Ryan a level look. “No, all I remembered from that day was you smiling at me. I was, umm, kind of, preoccupied in other matters after that. That’s also why I couldn’t give you this,” he pointed to the card tucked under the pillow, and Ryan crossed his arms, “that day. I’d been waiting for days - weeks actually. You can ask Gee. He got really annoyed with me ’cause I wouldn’t shut up about it.” He chuckled weakly, waiting for some kind of reaction from Ryan who wasn’t even looking at him.

“What happened?” Ryan asked, finally looking up at Mikey, who was torn between being _pleasedrelived_ that Ryan was giving him a chance and _nervoustense_ because Ryan still did look convinced.

MIkey took a deep breath and began. “Turns out that Valentine’s Day was really lucky for me.” He pointed to his head, making sure that Ryan was still paying attention to him. “Though I do wish they could have waited another day to make themselves known. Then I would have had a Valentine _and_ the thoughts of thousands of people trying to cram into my head.”

Oh. _Oh_. Shit, that was why – this was insane – _fuck_. Ryan knew what it was like when your powers appeared for the first time. He himself had been at home which didn’t really make things any better; drowning under anger directed at the world in general and also being shouted on at the same time were enough to make even the toughest of men collapse, but he had been just 13. And that was why he knew it must have been tougher for Mikey - he could just feel emotions, and if he clung on to himself tight enough he could block them to a certain extent, but Mikey had to listen to complete thoughts and dreams. It was scary. He remembered Mikey staying out of school for a week after that (not that he noticed at all; it must have been so he could learn to control it), and when Ryan had woken up in the hospital an entire day after fainting when his own powers had appeared, he’d found Mr. Hurley sitting near his bed.

For an entire week Ryan had done nothing but work on his shielding to try and get it at least a little under control so that he could get to back home and to school (not that he could decide which place was better, his head hurt at both places). By the end of the week though, Ryan still couldn’t shield for shit and he was having trouble keeping control of his emotions, letting them go and floating along in whatever he could feel around him, and considering that he was in a hospital, that didn’t help him at all. Finally they’d decided that it would be better if Ryan maybe went back home so that he could practice in a more comfortable environment.  Ryan would have laughed at that if he hadn’t been busy freaking out that he was going to die.

But when he found himself in the car with Spencer and his mum he realised that he wasn’t going home at all. He’d hugged Ginger for as long as he dared and when he’d let go she was wiping her eyes and patting Ryan’s head while Spencer grumbled behind them.

 Ryan didn’t mean to, he knew it was rude and he could still feel Mikey radiating _tensescaredanticipation,_ but for once his own emotions ruled and before he could stop himself he was rolling on the floor, holding his stomach and laughing like he hadn’t in a very long time. Except, he was still surrounded by the bed on one side and Mikey on the other so he ended up on his side, his back to Mikey as he tried to calm himself enough to breathe properly. He took a deep breath and rolled onto his back, still holding onto his sides, revelling in the pain. Ryan knew he was probably smiling like an idiot but he couldn’t stop, and maybe Mikey’s _happycontentrelaxed_ had something to do with it, he didn’t really care. It was all so stupid; if he’d known what he did now then they would have had so much time instead of – “Wait a minute. I didn’t _say anything_ to you; you were the one who started being an asshole. Why?”

And Ryan wasn’t laughing anymore, he was looking at Mikey now, waiting for an answer. Anything, because for a minute there everything was making sense but now it wasn’t anymore, and he was so done with wondering and doubts and - just, for once, could things be stable and make sense?

But Mikey seemed sheepish, and not nervous like he had some awful confession to make. “Umm, yeah, well I was still trying to get the whole _not reading anyone’s mind without permission_ thing under control and you walked by me saying some pretty colourful things in your head and well.” He scratched his nose. “I mean, c’mon! What did you expect me to do then? I asked you what was wrong, but you didn’t say anything!”

And now it was Ryan’s turn to look away again. “This is all just so fucked up,” he said, still on the floor looking up at Mikey, who moved to lie down beside him.

“Yeah, I know, if we would have just talked about it then we would have had three years together instead of wasting so much time,” Mikey mumbled, staring at the ceiling.

“What?” Ryan turnd his head to look at Mikey.

Mikey stared right back at Ryan. “You don’t think I gave you that,” he pointed to the card still under the pillow, “just ’cause I thought I should, right? I wanted to. I’ve been wanting to for the past 3 years. It just sucks that it had happen this way.”

Ryan bit his lip and tried not to look away from Mikey. “Oh? How did you want it to happen?”

“Well, I was kind of hoping that I’d ask you out and you would say yes,” Mikey said, smiling a little.

Ryan smiled back and took in the _happynervousexcited_ air around him. He breathed in and moved his hand to place it on top of Mikey’s and said, “Yes.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't want to end with them being all _together_ because that doesn't make sense. It takes time to move from enemies to lovers/boyfriends, BUT this is the start and *cough* who knows, maybe in the next part we can see how they start getting to know each other. :D 
> 
> Thank you for reading!!


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